Process of refrigerating fish, &amp;c.



N. DAHL. PROCESS OF REPRIGERATING FISH, fire.

AYPLIOATION FILED JULY 1,1012. 1, 1 23,?L Patented (12411.5, 1915.

1 a 8HEETBSHEET 1.

N. DAHL.

PROCESS OF RBFRIGERATING FISH, 6w.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1,1912.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

Z SHEETS-BHBBT 2.

Witnesses: I

- Inventor:

l i D n'nno'nar mania, or 'rn'onfiaHJ-nrr, nonwar. Y

ranc es or nn'rnrennarma FISH, &c.

To all whom 'it may concern: v

Be it known that ll, 'NEKOLAI DAr-IL, merchant, of Norway, residing at Fjordgaten 49, Trondhjem, Norway, have in-' vented new and useful Improvements in Processes of Y Refrigerating Fish, &c., of which the following is a specification.

Accordingto previously known methods.

it has been tried to preserve fresh herring and fish during transport and storing either by placing ice in or on the article itself or I by cooling the-air itself by mechanical freezingfroems or by means ofa freezing mixture-ice"* ,and sa1t'and a system of pipes through which; the liquid from the freezing mixture circulates; to thereby cool the air in the freezing; orstorage room, or finally by causing the air to passdirectly through a freezing mixturefand afterward conductao,, i ng the cooled air into the room, all for the purpose of preserving the article against "decay. Long .ago, however, experience has shown that the first methodof placing ice in or upon thearticle'itself has an injuri one efi'ect, thereby inter aha incurring the risk that the article is jammed, loses its fresh appearance and is greatly deterioratedlwith respectfto'its commercial value.

The other 'above mentionedgrhethods .by so which it is tried to preserve theflarticle fresh .by causing cooled air 'to freeze it, also involves several inconveniences. fish, which is exposed to the cooled dry draft of air, will dryup-and the skin will shrink the article stifi'eningy at the sametime. The blood water and slime, which attend the herring .er' fish,*will' ater the article turning gray and gettinganappearmice, which is not appetiz'ing: Thus its t0 llt will only-be the top" layenthatffreez es,

and the end is not attamed; Thema inp'un" t5 pose with all these methods islto get: the

article thoroughly frozen tolthereby 'pre 7 serve itQfreshv for some length of time, but, as above'e'xplained, it is not possible to do this by the methods hitherto known, while 50.

ployed, when the article is frozen beforehand. The point therefore is to. ..find a method, enabling the-artieleto be thoroughly f'pozBn in the" shortest "time possible, while tn it is nest, and moireever to-presents I Specification of Letters Patent Herring or commercial value. ishighly redi lced also in this case. Nor will the cooled air be-able to completely penetrate the article or mass.

some of these may advantageously be em Patented Jan. 5, was.

'hpplica'tion filed-July 1, 1912. Serial nmoaoaaits fresh appearance; so that it commercial ll uid su plied has in itself a preserving e ect. are "should be taken to rovide an outlet for the liquid at the bottom," either for the dpurpose of discharging it, -orafter renewe cooling and cleaningto again cause it to'tricklethrough the article in thefreezingroom. lln thismanner the'article I will be thoroughly frozen in quite a short time, Without losing its fresh appearance, and thus without its. commercialvalue. be-

ing impaired, This is suitably and most advantageously attained by placing a freezing mixturefic and salt at the bottom of the storageroom for instance thehold of a steamer, and utilizing the cooling and preservingv qualities of thefliquid, generated from said mixture. Said liquid, while at the same time thoroughly freezing the article in a short time, will supply. the same with the suitable quantity of saline :sub-

stance so as to make it more adapted for smoking treatment. During .thextrickling of the cold brine downward between the article saidlbrine partially freezes into ice (while precipitating the salt) so that for instance in f a herring box there :will be formed small ice molds in the spaces between thefish. Accordingly it is found that all through, the cold brine having a far greater penetrating power than for instance cold -air. This method can be employed all cases, where articles are concerned which can stand water, specially fish. The method, however, is primarily intended: to keep fresh herring cooled andpreserve it in boxes dur- .ing wholesale expert, but it may also advantageouslyv be employed in freezing wagons-in railways, in fishing vessels durtransportro-f thefish from the fishing. phea-tothedealer, in storage rooms, etc, V

Eliflerentapplications of: the in ention 195 this method enables the fish to'bethoroughly frozen not only in the outermcstla-yers but luff ' rte-pe tide; fwithijibs', p I

meeting the freezin 1m "inure to the holes,

. will be hereinafter describedareference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which: I

Figure 1 is a cross-section and Fig. 2 a plan 'view of'a herring box with. a cover thereon. Fig. 3 is a portion'of a longitudinal section of a vessel showing the application of the'inven'tion in the holdof a vessel. Fig. 4 is a' cross-section'on the line III- '1 III'of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 shows a detail of-a metal cover on a larger scale. Q On the top of: the boxes --1- is'secured by nails twonarrow boards .'2, between which the'cover fits in, its cross'bars engaging below one of the fixed-boards -2-. A list -'7'underneath the lis t 6-is attached to the underside of the coverand engaging between the fixed boards -2 said list 4 -7- engaging between the gable walls'of 2a the box and preventing a displacement of the cover. "The cover itself consists of an outer wooden frame 9, 10, 11 'and a plate 8' scuredin'the same and made of zinc, galvanized sheetiron-or similar durable metalor ofm'eta'l coated with strong enamel paint (for instance ripol-in). 1 The plate mayyalsor consis't'of wood or-be'com posed of wooden lists carrying wire-netting 'or other material. Essential is only that this plateshall form between the fish and the freezing mixture on the cover a partition' penetrable to water. 1 The most suitable 'in'aterial for a cover surface is a thin metal plate. The flatter gives many advantages. :The, plate, w'hich'i's" an excellent cooling surface, is pressed into suchf a shapelas to con-- duct the freezing mixt'ure from thewooden frame '(orj the outenedges oithe plate) inwardly' toward its niiddle "portion-,whiclr is provided with several rows of apertures It "is, however, of the greatest im bitance that said iipertures" should --have *heen'so made that thefc'ooling 'andpreserv- '"Zi g lit'1i1id' which --has passed through the same, immediately?after ihaving passed t rough will drip straightdown' into; the

box and 'not'fflow-along"the* unders1de"of r t eh. re: pee- ",g-drwi e q revent thislth are, made*fanners mare/is providedfwith I, large dependingfbi'ir. thei'ilateiiitfglSo lb .r-fir aira"l r e. is 6$ -1 ranged'frecesses. atth bbitwfiig i; lfichtlie* Fholes' .aiie' formed fOr the metal plate ina'y which, besides-con- 1 it'ilr also strengtlienthe pl te itself, "all as .l le t e he It? .u aha; abu dan y u lied with;

boxes and not press against the article as in previous methods. The bottom'of the box may, as indicated in the-drawings, consist of wooden boards secured by nails with intervening spaces, or of some other perfo-' rated material, so that the liquid can( be utilized for the underlying boxes, or, if it is found more convenient, the 'water may be conducted away from the bottom of the box and out through to the side walls.

In the device above described, the meltingliquid from a mixture of ice and salt placed upon the cover may be utilized. asa freezing mixture, and this liquid contains 'sucha degree of cold, that the herring will immediately be cooled by the brine flowing through it, while at the same time it is kept suitably salt for smoking purposes. Another great advantage of these covers is that in reloading and reicing at the reloading stations, where up-to 1000 boxes an hour are reiced, the necessity of removing the cover from the box is done away with thereby gaining much time. Nor is thearticle ex? posed to the air which is the case in' reicing according to the old method in which the covers were removed and the ice placed di- .-+1 3-'- engaging below the 'fixed board 2-, as indicated in Fig. 1."

If the, method'is to "be employed for in stancesin a"-fishing transport vessel the boxes or thefish may rest on an ice-and-salt mixture --18-. placed at the bottom of the hold of the, vessel, as indicatedin Figs. 3 and '4,

the cold brine molten from the mixture being suitably. conductedbyan inclined chute -19-" -'"at the bottom. down into a; collecting recess .'20.=-1 into which projects the suction pipe 21 from a pump- '-22e-'-,wherecb'y the liquid. 'is' sucked up to be conducted Tend-to be causdibymeans oftwo ordnpne' longitudinal "pipes -24-.-.-.provided1.with holes',b'y a hose,'or'in' some other manner to trickl uniformly down over the I herrin "boxes :25 placed on: top ofqthe' ice-an salt mixtur'erfi =5:-

".To' preventfthe' liquid fromihavin'gl a -1de-.

structlve efi'ect on the walls 'of the vessels and to 'keepthez hold-[perfectly 'tight, the

walls are provided with a; suitable Y sheathi sm" l ning -26+-f-.Eand.-with adinsulation. Y indicatedf fFigi 5; When Lth'ef boxes? are In? the .reces's:ii -20- thegmudfand dirt which haveaben oairiedialon g with the freezingQmixture, thfe"coyer@diduid; "may gathergnandiktbe,:isuction, pipe I areas t epietsare aiethemerlym *s e-filmgofitheipummuiajahelsemvtfied at ts-180 bottom with a sieve or a filtering apparatus preventing the dirt from being sucked up into the trickling system. I

- The easiest, most economical, and convenient arrangement is to place the icemixture at'the bottom, for by this arrangement thefreezing mixtureis exposed to a constant and great pressure from the cargo whereby the liquid is formed more quickly, and its freezing energy will be greater and its action" more efficient. After the liquid has trickled through the article, itreturns to the freezing mixture where it is again cooled and utilized anew. rangement a constant circulationis obtained.

It is obvious that it is not necessary to use ice and salt for a freezing mixture Other freezing mixtures may also come into consideration, the only conditions being that the liquid circulating through the article shall have a temperature below 0 degrees centigrade and possesses preservin qualities with respect to the article in question,

that such liquid shall have a preserving eflect Without involving inconveniences of any kind. The same result is also obtained if a preserving liquid, the freezing point of which lies below 0 degrees centigrade, is cooled, before passing through the article by flowing through a cooling system for 'instance a mechanical freezin apparatus.

Having now described my nvention, what ll claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Method of cooling and freezing fish llhus in this arand other articles of food, especially during transport, by the use of a cooling liquid in direct contact with the article or its several parts, which consists in inserting the article in its natural unfrozen condition into the actual packing in which it is to be stored or transported, and causingthe cooling liquid having a temperature below 0 degrees centigrade to circulate through the packing and between the articles contained therein until the article has been cooled and frozen throughout.

2. Method of cooling and freezing fish and other articles of food, especially during transport, by the use of a cooling liquid in direct contact with the article or its several parts, which consists in inserting the. article in its natural unfrozen-condition into the actual packing in which it is to be stored or transported, causing the cooling liquid having a temperature below 0 degrees centrigrade to circulate through the packing and between the articles contained therein until the article has been cooled and frozen throughout, recooling the liquid and cansing the recooled liquid to circulate through the packing and between the articles contained therein.

In testimony whereof I- have signed my name tofthis specification inthe presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

NEKOLM DAHL. Witnesses: Y

Swan BERG, W. ROMINY. 

